


Episode 13 - Birthday Surprise

by stgjr



Series: "The Power of a Name" Series 2 - "Time Lord Triumphant" [10]
Category: BattleTech: MechWarrior, Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), Multi-Fandom, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-12 23:02:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10501263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stgjr/pseuds/stgjr
Summary: The plan for our narrator to take Princess Katherine out for her 18th Birthday takes a turn for the unexpected when he receives a distress call from Nerys on the Dominion-occupied Deep Space Nine.





	1. Chapter 1

Some people hate surprise parties. Can't stand them. Especially if someone sings "Jolly Good Fellow" because, let's be frank, it's saccharine and usually not at all meant.  
  
I tended to love them, at least when I was the one throwing them.  
  
Of course, sometimes even I could be surprised during them.  
  
It was time for Princess Katherine's 18th Birthday. The date of adulthood, of starting to gain personal independence and all that, and that meant I had to plan the right getaway for a girl who had to have some fun due to the rather unhappy state of things.  
  
The Clan Invasion, that is.  
  
And yes, I thought about stopping it. But I'm just one Time Lord and, well... I was not very pleased to find out things like the fall of Rasalhague or the bombardment of Edo on Turtle Bay were Fixed Points in time. With the capital letters, even. Did what I could, but... it wasn't enough.  
  
So I resolved to sit it out. Mostly. Just to make sure things progressed properly. And to help the occasional refugee ship escape. The Clanners are very good at computer security, but I'm better.  
  
And, of course, to prepare myself for the day I might actually get fed up with the bloody robe-wearing band of crazy techno-fetishists who controlled this cosmos' Earth. That's all another story, of course.  
  
No, let's focus on this story. I had to give Katherine the proper birthday. I'd already introduced her to Queen Elsa after her seventh birthday and, for that magical 10th birthday, well.... little girls and talking ponies do go together rather well, yes? (There was no incident with the apple trees, I'll add. Absolutely none. No, seriously, don't ask.)  
  
As of late, I'd been stepping up the birthdays more, going into one and heading up to the next immediately afterward. It gave me something to do now that I'd lost Janias and Camilla, courtesy of the idea I'd had at Doctor Mallard's table.  
  
I met Katherine, as I usually did, in the courtyard of the Tharkad palace. Sometimes she was on New Avalon but with the Lyran half of the Commonwealth facing the Clan onslaught, it wasn't surprising to see her here instead. She's grown into a fine beauty at this point, long blond hair like her mother's, fine blue eyes. Blue eyes that could have easily indicated an icy heart... but here, they did not. They twinkled with curiosity instead. "Well, how was the party?", I asked her from the entrance to the TARDIS.  
  
"Muted," she replied. "With the Clans on the advance everyone is scared. It's hard to find happiness." She looked at me with concern. "Doctor, are you sure you can't...?"  
  
I shook my head sadly. "I've already done what I can, Katherine. But as a Time Lord I have to protect the timeline above all else. Space-time can be a... fragile thing at points. They're fixed and you can only do so much around those points without breaking them. And then I would be destroying everything."  
  
"Does that mean the Clans will win?", she asked. "Will they conquer us?"  
  
At that I smiled thinly. "I can only say, Katherine... that the nations of your family will survive this war. As much as I would like to tell you more..."  
  
"...if you told me, and I acted on it, you would be changing the timeline. It could interfere with fixed points." Katherine nodded quietly. "I understand, Doctor."  
  
I noticed the worry in her voice regardless. It was not surprising. Over the birthdays I had seen her grow up into a... very different young woman than would have existed otherwise. It was for the better.  
  
I couldn't be sure yet if this would stay. She still had ambition, I could see it, but I couldn't see where it was directed.  
  
"Well, the night is young yet, my dear," I said. "I have a few stops in mind for your eighteenth birthday and I think you will find them lovely. Something to get your mind off these Clan buggers>"  
  
"That would be nice, yes."  
  
She stepped into the TARDIS, shedding her parka and showing a lovely ice blue blouse underneath. It wasn't too fashionable, of course; she wouldn't be advertising her social rank on worlds where it was meaningless, obviously.  
  
I went for the TARDIS controls. "Well now, our first stop will be, hrm... ah yes. The Citadel. Massive space station, home to over eleven million sentient beings. From there we'll pay a visit to Thessia and then shift over to Minbar and...."  
  
Before I could continue, my phone rang.  
  
Katherine looked at it with curiosity. She'd never seen it happen before.  
  
Wondering just what it could be, I took up the phone and answered, "Hello there."  
  
" _Doctor, I don't have much time..._ " There was the sound of fighting in the background, I could hear weapons fire.  
  
"Nerys?", I asked, recognizing the voice.  
  
" _Doctor, I need your help_."  
  
I looked to Katherine. It looked like I'd gotten a surprise for this birthday celebration too...  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine watched with curiosity as I scrambled over the TARDIS controls. "Doctor, who was that?"  
  
"A good friend of mine," I answered. "She's in trouble. I have to go help. And before you ask... the call fixes the TARDIS to that point for a time, if I don't go now the event will pass by and become part of my timestream. I have no choice."  
  
"I understand," Katherine replied. "What do you need me to do?"  
  
"Nothing," I replied. "I have suspicions about what is happening and it's going to be very dangerous. I'm not making this birthday your last, Katherine."  
  
She was silent as I shifted the TARDIS. But I saw a gleam in her blue eyes and worried that she was going to get herself involved anyway.  
  
I'd locked in on the temporal beacon's signal to ensure we materialized as close to the location as possible. I opened the door to find a dead Jem'Hadar at my feet. The corridors of DS9 were before me.  
  
Oh. Oh dear. _This_ event.  
  
I'd come in with stealth mode and was justified for that choice as another troop of Jem'Hadar ran by, bringing their weapons to bear. I pulled out my sonics and stepped outside of the TARDIS, making myself visible. "Hello gents, do you know the way to the Promenade?", I asked in a friendly tone.  
  
The engineered super-soldiers turned at the sound of my voice. I activated the sonic disruptor on wide arc and sent them flying, weapons included. With my sonic screwdriver held up to scan their weapons I approached carefully. They were already getting to their feet.  
  
So I gave them another quick blast.  
  
from deeper down the corridor I could hear Nerys' voice. She was fussing with someone. A little closer and I was able to make out that voice as well. Rom. So my suspicions were confirmed. This was the retaking of DS9.  
  
I almost expected to find more Jem'Hadar, but I didn't. My sonic confirmed my readings of their guns so I could short them out if it came to it... which just meant I had to avoid getting impaled by their pikes.  
  
As it turned out, I didn't get to Nerys first. The shooting had stopped when I rounded the corner and found her with Odo and some of his Bajoran deputies. "Well, it looks like you got the rest," I remarked.  
  
Nerys allowed only a faint hint of a smile at seeing me. "We're too late," she told me coldly. "The mines went down."  
  
"Yes, that is rather a bother." I knelt down beside Rom and brought out the sonic. "Weapon systems are down, at least, so they can't shoot at anyone. Might want to get those back up if we take control of the station back."  
  
"Assaulting Ops will be a bloody business, Doctor," Odo pointed out. "Dukat's secured it well."  
  
"I'm sure he has, which is why we're not doing that yet." I looked to Nerys and smirked. "Remember our little visit back during the Occupation?"  
  
Nerys understood immediately. "Reactor control. You're thinking of routing all the controls there?"  
  
"I am." And I was. Of course, I had no intention of actually using them for anything. Sisko would sort the incoming Dominion fleet out... wait, I did mention that, right? That this was all a desperate attempt to keep a couple thousand Dominion ships from flooding into the Alpha Quadrant. Sisko would convince the Prophets to deal with the buggers. "And to be on the safe side, trying to find some method of getting the weapons back won't hurt."  
  
"The Jem"Hadar and Cardassians are everywhere, I'll be too busy dealing with their detachments to help if they find you," Odo warned.  
  
"Don't worry about that Constable. That's what the TARDIS is for."  
  
  
  
  
We returned to the TARDIS. Katherine was waiting by the door. "Doctor?"  
  
"Who's she?", Nerys asked, looking at Katherine.  
  
"Katherine. Nerys." I was too busy to give more than a hand gesture and a name.  
  
I shifted the TARDIS to Reactor Control. The Cardassian engineering staff was undermanned given the prior sabotage. My sonic took care of their weapons and Kira brought them down with stun shots. I went up and unlocked the controls for our use. "Okay, changing command systems to connect down here." I raced my fingers over the nearest control. "It's going to take a while."  
  
"I"m patching into communications." Odo took another station. "My deputies will need to report in with me."  
  
"Fair enough. Switching into weapons control."  
  
Nerys had turned a station into a sensor log. "The _Defiant_ went into the wormhole," she said. I could sense tension in her voice tinged with a little hope. "There's no way they can stop that whole fleet. They'll be..."  
  
"They'll need help," I pointed out. "Of course, think of where they've gone."  
  
Nerys' eyes widened. "You think..."  
  
"There's a reason they call him the Emissary," I pointed out.  
  
And, for the first time since I'd arrived, Nerys smiled fully. "You already know, don't you. You know he's going to beat them with the help of the Prophets."  
  
"Well, 'beat them' may not apply entirely, but I do believe he'll be the only one returning." I set a hand on a control panel and looked back to Katherine. "Rather interesting birthday party for you, eh Katherine?"  
  
Nerys looked at me with curiosity.  
  
"It's a thing, I've been giving Katherine birthday rides. Your call came when we were off for her eighteenth."  
  
"All things considered, this may be the best one yet," Katherine answered, watching us intently. I could see the sparkle of youthful exuberance in her eye. This was, for Katherine, more than just a TARDIS ride; it was an _adventure_.  
  
"We may have a problem," Odo reported. "I've got several deputies pinned down in the habitat ring. It looks like the Jem'Hadar and Cardassian troops are going after some of our residents."  
  
"Reprisals," I grumbled. "Let's see if I can talk them down."  
  
Nerys smirked at me. "You mean like the last time you tried it here?"  
  
"I'll be more diplomatic," I promised. "Patching us through now." I looked up at a monitor and saw it blip to Ops. There was Dukat, of course, and Damar, Weyoun and the "female" Founder (did shapeshifting beings made of sentient gelatin even have gender?, I wondered) near him. "My, how history does love to repeat itself," I said, enjoying the confused looks on their faces and the slowly building irritation on Dukat's. "Hello again, Gul. It's been a while. Granted, not quite so much for me, being a time traveler and all that. Jolly good show with using your shuttle transporters to rearm Gul Ukrell, I must say. Excellent ingenuity in the cause of murder and oppression. Something of a specialty there?"  
  
" _Ah. Have you come to witness our moment of triumph, Doctor?_ " Dukat's face now oozed egomania and smug triumph. " _Your services as Bajor's defender will no longer be required when our fleet comes through._ "  
  
"What fleet?", I asked in false confusion. "Oh, you mean that fleet that just tried to go through the wormhole? Yes, bit of overkill wouldn't you say? Sending so many ships. Awful bloody lot of ships to protect Cardassia."  
  
" _I see no need for pretense, Doctor. We intend to finish our conquest of the Alpha Quadrant with that fleet. If I were you, I'd find a safer time period to travel to. Maybe after our victory is secure and peace is restored, hrm?_ "  
  
" _So this is the mysterious Doctor who nearly killed one of my people_ ," the female Founder chimed in. Probably because her ego couldn't permit her to stay silent in my exchange with Dukat.  
  
I winced a little. A false wince anyway. "Oh, 'killed' is such a strong word, I had no idea that my sonic screwdriver would destabilize your species' morphogenic field that badly. I did leave him safely on your new Homeworld, didn't I? Didn't leave an apology note for ruining your attempt to replace the head of Starfleet but, well, I don't go for insincerity in my apologies. Unless I'm being diplomatic."  
  
" _Such blasphemy_ ," Weyoun gasped.  
  
" _Like all enemies of the Great Link, you will be dealt with harshly, Doctor_ ," the Founder warned. Apparently, aside from her ego, she also believed in blunt threats.  
  
"Tell me if I'm wrong, Founder, but you were going to order Nerys killed, weren't you?", I answered. "Now, see, _that_ would have been a mistake. I'm something of a crazy adopted uncle for her. And hurting her, or anyone close to me... that's not a very safe place to stand. Just ask the Borg if you ever see them."  
  
Nerys widened her eyes. Undoubtedly she now realized why Jan and Cami weren't with me anymore.  
  
"But I didn't call to exchange threats, Founder. I called to simply remind the Gul of what I told him before. Bajor is defended. Bajor's people are defended. And I know you have troops about to attack the Bajoran civilians on the station."  
  
" _Bajor's treachery against the Dominion is beyond doubt now_ ," the Founder answered. " _And it will be punished._ "  
  
"Ah, reprisal killings of civilians, the staple of totalitarians everywhere," I flippantly remarked. "Just no imagination with you types, is there? Or memory. Since, as I recall, the Bajorans weren't the people who were ready to bomb your Great Link to atoms." I looked at Dukat to test his reaction. I wondered how much he had though of that little factoid, of the attempt by the Obsidian Order and Tal Shi'ar to destroy the Great Link.  
  
" _If you care for the Bajorans so much, Doctor, I suggest you surrender,_ ", the Foundered replied. " _I may show mercy._ "  
  
"Better idea." I smirked. "Why don't you look into why you're still talking to me and not the armada you were waiting for?"  
  
Oh, that shut them up. Dukat was the first to recover. " _I suspect they're busy subduing the_ Defiant _, they'll be along...._ "  
  
" _Ship coming through the wormhole. It's the_ Defiant _._ "  
  
" _Our fleet should be right behind them..._ " Dukat noted.  
  
Instead, there was just silence.  
  
I smirked. "You may want to check on those stations in the Gamma Quadrant. I'd love to chat more, but I have some people to rescue." I killed the connection.  
  
"They did it," Nerys said quietly. "They stopped the Dominion." It wasn't a question.  
  
I nodded. "And now we have to, if we're going to stop a massacre."  
  
  
  
  
Nerys remained behind to watch Reactor Control while we materialized the TARDIS in the habitat ring. The Bajoran population of the station had huddled in this quarter and were being guarded by Odo's deputies. We could hear weapons exchanges down the corridors. One deputy, a burly-looking young Bajoran woman with dark red hair, brought up her phaser rifle and nodded to the Constable. "Sir, they're hitting us hard on the crosswalk from the Promenade. Pala and Lorya are badly hurt. We can't hold them."  
  
"Have the squads fall back, we need to reduce our perimeter." Odo looked to me after the deputy went off to make sure the orders were followed. "Doctor, any suggestions?"  
  
"I can jam their weapons with my sonics, but that won't stop the Jem'Hadar. They'll just rush your men with their blades." I looked around at the busy corridors, lined with Bajorans seeking refuge. They were all looking toward me by this point and I thought I saw some flickers of recognition in some of their faces. "If I can get to a computer system I can try to establish forcefields to keep them out."  
  
"You'll need top security clearance for that, Doctor."  
  
I smirked at him and help up my sonic. "I've hacked the Borg Collective and a billion year-old AI control system. DS9's computers aren't that great a mystery, my dear Constable."  
  
That won me the notorious Odo "harumph" and crossed arms. "Remind me to add some new security blocks when we're done."  
  
"Yes, it'll make for some fun sport the next time, eh?"  
  
With Katherine following me, I found a nearby set of moderate-quality guest quarters, the kind with a separate bedroom. Normally they were empty but for now they served as emergency shelter for some of the civilians who normally didn't live in this part of the station. Bajorans weren't the only ones present; I recognized a Lissepian, a Mizarian, and a being that after consideration I realized had to be of Morn's species but with hair. The Jem'Hadar weren't being very picky, it seemed.  
  
I went to a control console as screaming and crying erupted from the bedroom. The racket was distracting, the kind it's hard to block out. I winced and looked back to Katherine.  
  
I didn't need to ask. She was already walking to the bedroom door. When it slid open she looked to me. "It's a hungry child, I think. His mother is unconscious on the bed and being tended to."  
  
"Shot no doubt. There should be a replicator that can replicate milk for Bajoran babies, just ask and it'll provide it. I'm going to need to concentrate."  
  
Katherine nodded and entered the room. I got to work on the panel. I didn't need my sonic much, as it turned out; while it was capable of quickly modifying code and the like, I was learning how to deal with Cardassian software quite easily. The Cardassians had been forced to rebuild _Deep Space Nine_ 's central systems from scratch given the sabotage Sisko's crew had pulled when leaving. And from the look of things, they'd rushed some of the coding work. That made my job easier.  
  
I felt a pull at my pants leg and looked over and down. A small Bajoran boy was looking at me. "You're the Doctor." His words weren't a question.  
  
"Yes," I replied.  
  
"My dad says you're a Prophet," he said quietly.  
  
"No, I'm not." I admit I was keeping most of my attention on the computer.  
  
"Dad says he saw your magic box in Rakatha," the boy explained. "He said it was bigger on the inside, and only the Prophets can make it."  
  
"Not just the Prophets, as it turns out," I answered. "Would make my life rather easier if it were true."  
  
"Are you here to save us?"  
  
The question was simple and direct, but I could sense a tremor of fear in the boy's voice. How long had the Bajorans on this station been afraid of something like this? Of the day the Cardassians and Jem'Hadar turned on them? I briefly looked back to him and said, "Yes."  
  
Satisfied, the boy went off, probably to inform his father of my answer.  
  
I turned my attention back to my work. "Oh come on!", I protested as the display showed a failure message. The Cardassians had apparently allowed parts of the station to go to rot. I couldn't bring the forcefields online until a power conduit had been fixed. I looked into the bedroom. Katherine was watching the children as one of Bashir's Bajoran nurses tended to the wounded woman in the bed. "Katherine! Stay here with the kids. I've got to get some repairs done."  
  
"Doctor?" She looked up. "Shouldn't you have someone helping you?"  
  
"I'll be fine."  
  
I really should have known better, shouldn't I? Those were pretty famous last words.  
  
  
  
  
The sounds of battle were in the distance. Even with the Federation-Klingon fleet on the way, the Founder was just bloodthirsty enough to want a reprisal. Especially, I mused, when you consider my sudden arrival. I had undoubtedly been the final nudge that convinced her to devote her Jem'Hadar to reprisals instead of just withdrawing.  
  
Yay for me.  
  
So I made my way to the conduit I had to repair and applied my sonic to it. The repair wasn't as easy as I'd hoped it would be. It was some seriously shoddy work; Chief O'Brien would have been grossly offended.  
  
"Surprised these things haven't fallen apart further," I muttered. The conduit was fixed, but another one in the section couldn't handle the power throughput. I'd have to go over and bring its secondary capacitors online. I rushed over to do just that, going two halls down.  
  
I knelt down along the wall, pulled the wall panel out, and began to run the sonic over the conduit internals. "There we go. All the power we'll need," I muttered. "Just have to..."  
  
I heard the boot hitting the ground just in time. I pulled back and spun away as a Jem'Hadar soldier shimmered into view, his polearm blade coming down where my back had been. He was fast, too. He kept his blade from going into the conduit and giving him a shocking experience. With a snarl of frustration on the Jem'Hadar's face, he brought the blade around toward me. I kicked out; given all my running and my height, my legs could be quite formidable.  
  
Unfortunately, I still wasn't much of a physical, melee fighting type. My kick missed the Jem'Hadar's knee and smacked him in the upper shin. It unbalanced him a little, allowing me to evade the next downward swipe. I scrambled to my foot.  
  
The Jem'Hadar's arm reached out. He got a handful of my jacket in his hand and used it as leverage, pulling me back and slamming me against the wall. I tried to strike him in the neck. My blow wasn't strong enough to damage his windpipe through the armored flesh over his throat. Seeing the blade start to come down at my chest, I brought my hands up. One grabbed the Jem'Hadar's wrist, the other the weapon. If I'd had the strength, I could have gotten leverage on the weapon and twisted myself out of my precarious position, perhaps even forced the Jem'Hadar to drop it.  
  
Unfortunately, I was dealing with a genetically-engineered supersoldier. I felt like I was trying to hold back a machine and realized my plan had gone horribly wrong.  
  
There was nothing I was going to be able to do before the Jem'Hadar's blade found my left heart.  
  
Some birthday party this was turning out to be.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The struggle to free Deep Space Nine from the Dominion draws to a close while our narrator learns whether or not Katherine is a suitable Companion.

Now you would expect me to get rescued by Katherine, right? Plucky young girl proves she can watch my back, earns her place as my Companion, that kind of thing?  
  
Honestly, it's what I expected.  
  
Instead the Jem'Hadar went limp as a phaser blast struck him in the back. I pushed him away and let him fall to the ground. I diverted my attention to my rescuer.  
  
"Uh, are you okay?"  
  
Rom.  
  
I actually chuckled a little. "Oh, right as rain."  
  
"Odo said you were trying to get the forcefields up," Rom said. "I came to help."  
  
"I imagine so." I gestured toward the open panel. "I think I mostly have it."  
  
Rom knelt down and inspected it. "Uh, did you check the plasma exchanger?"  
  
"Yes," I said. Although when thinking about it, I don't think I gave it more than a cursory glance.  
  
Rom came to the rescue again, pointing out where the connections were blackened. "The Cardassians keep forgetting maintenance around here. They forget all the changes that Chief O'Brien made to the station. Plasma exchangers need routine replacement."  
  
"Good eye, Rom," I said, feeling my cheeks burn. Had that Jem'Hadar not come, I'd have blown the hall up.  
  
It occurred to me at that point that my Time Lord body was more robust than a Human one. I should have been holding my own against that Jem'Hadar, at least. That fact that I didn't, and that I forgot such a simple step...  
  
Well, that's what happens when you forget to take care of yourself. And I hadn't been doing either very well at that since Jan and Cami had left. It was a wonder I remembered to shower and change clothes.  
  
Rom, as it turned out, was carrying a spare in his kit, and replaced the exchanger with enviable efficiency. Say what you will about his dental hygiene or social skills, but the man's handy with technology. Got quite a good heart too.  
  
"Everything's ready. Can you, I mean, only senior staff can turn the fields on."  
  
"Or someone with a sonic screwdriver." I brought it up and used it on a nearby control panel that I'd already rigged to accept the needed commands. The display showed forcefields popping up all along the habitat ring. "Good show, Rom. Excellent work."  
  
"Uhh, thank you," he answered.  
  
We took a corridor closer to the crossover to the docking ring. "Go on ahead, Rom, get back to Leeta," I said. "I'll be alright."  
  
"If you say so, Doctor. But if something happens to you, Major Kira's not going to be happy with me."  
  
I allowed myself a smile at that. "It'll be fine."  
  
Rom gave a nod and ran off. Well, it was more of a scamper, but a very good scamper. Definitely closer to a run than a scamper.  
  
I watched him disappear around a corner on the halls leading back to the habitat areas when I heard the shot. A phaser beam, the whine being distinctly Cardassian.  
  
I heard a familiar voice scream, " _Nooooo!!!_ "  
  
....actually, I heard _two_ familiar voices scream that.  
  
I quickened my pace and came out into a corridor. In front of me was Gul Dukat, cradling his daughter Ziyal. Beyond them was Dukat's second, Damar, in a struggle with...  
  
Katherine had apparently been taught some self-defense. She attempted an arm-lock, but she was an eighteen year old girl up against a Cardassian veteran and former guerrilla fighter used to the occasional wrestling with Klingons. Damar pulled out of it and belted Katherine across the face, sending her down.  
  
For just a moment, I was stunned at the sight. Considering what she might be, could still be....seeing Katherine Steiner-Davion fighting not for her life but for another being's, one she didn't even _know_.... that was something I'd never quite let myself believe to be possible.  
  
Of course, it would be for nothing if Damar shot her. I brought the sonic up and sent a feedback pulse into his phaser. It exploded in sparks in his hand as he tried to aim it at Katherine. Damar yelped and dropped the weapon, cradling his burnt hand. He looked up to me.  
  
"There's an old saying. _'The burnt hand teaches best.'_ Keep that in mind. Now bugger off."  
  
Damar, startled and frightened, did just that.  
  
I went to Katherine, who already had a bruise marring her cheek and lip from where Damar struck her. A trickle of blood from her nose trickled down the left side of her mouth. I offered a hand. "Some birthday," I muttered.  
  
"Don't worry about me," she said as I lifted her back to her feet. "What about her?"  
  
I turned and faced Ziyal and Dukat. To see this evil man, this killer of innocents, clutching his daughter like she was the most precious thing in the world... it could be a sobering reminder that even bad men have what is arrogantly called "humanity" in them. I held the sonic up and examined Ziyal with it. Damar's shot had been slightly off-target, undoubtedly due to Katherine, but it had still done its job. She had massive internal damage and shock was setting in. She would die in minutes if untreated.  
  
"Save her, please," Dukat asked me. "She's half-Bajoran, isn't that enough?"  
  
I looked at him. "Is that what you think I'm about, Dukat? That I chose to protect Bajorans against Cardassians because I don't care for your species?" I shook my head. "That's not what I am." I reached into my jacket pocket and brought out a medigel pack. Layom Station's regenerative remedies were all well and good for patients who were stable, but they wouldn't be enough for Ziyal. Fresh medigel from the best manufacturers on the Citadel, on the other hand? Perfect.  
  
As I began to prepare the pack for application, I felt a bit of hesitation. This... this was changing things. Tora Ziyal was _supposed_ to die here. Dukat was supposed to be broken by her death and go mad. If I saved Ziyal...  
  
...I would be saving a bright, brave, and altogether decent young woman, instead of leaving her to die based on what I _thought_ was supposed to be history.  
  
To this day I sometimes wonder about things like this. I know how things "should" turn out... but not because I experience them myself as history. Rather, because I watched them on a bloody TV show. I read them in a bloody book. How could I let _that_ decide my actions?  
  
The truth was, sometimes it did because I was too worried about what happens if I change things and the consequences change too much. I said as much to Harry Dresden after we saved Ivy from the Denarians; if I pull at the threads in an attempt to fix things, I could unravel the entire thing, and I may not be able to put it back together.  
  
On the other hand, how could I let someone like Ziyal die because I didn't know what her survival would cause?  
  
That is the dilemma of the Doctor. It is mine even more so, as I have not one timeline to consider but so, so many. I could never fix them all if I went about yanking threads and unraveling everything.  
  
And sometimes, the decision I make depends not on forethought and planning and long agonizing consideration, but simply on what's going on at the time of the decision, what I'm feeling... and what I'm seeing.  
  
In this case, I was looking up into the bruised face of an eighteen year old girl I had been molding for the last fifteen years of her life, trying to make her a better person than she would have become. A girl who had never seen me forced to make hard choices, who only saw me as the man in the magic box who could do anything. Who could save anyone. I wasn't just her crazy adopted uncle like I was with Nerys or the Carpenter children. I was her _hero_.  
  
"What can you do for her, Doctor?", Katherine asked me. "Can't you save her?"  
  
And at that moment, I knew I had to try.  
  
And I tried.  
  
Oh, I tried.  
  
But sometimes... even trying is not enough.  
  
Some days, despite everything you do, you just can't do enough.  
  
As I've learned to my regret, the Doctor doesn't save everyone.  
  
....  
  
Of course, this wasn't just any day. This was a girl's eighteenth birthday.  
  
And birthdays can have a magic of their own.  
  
  
  
  
A few hours later Quark's was packed with Bajorans, Starfleet personnel, and Klingons. Synthehol and bloodwine were flowing, there was cheering and laughter, and Quark happily sat at his bar counting his profits.  
  
What was I doing, you ask?  
  
What else does the Doctor do when _everybody lives_?  
  
"Doctor...." Odo's growl was at least not as growly as usual, laced instead with the sarcasm of his humor. "I believe I warned you that I'd charge you if you ever danced on the Promenade again."  
  
"I'm not dancing on the Promenade," I laughed, interrupting my rhythm in what was a very bad side-step dance.  
  
Odo gave his more joyful "harumph". "It's close enough."  
  
Katherine was too busy laughing herself to tears. Beside her, Ziyal was settled into a hoverchair from the infirmary. Bashir had permitted her to attend on the condition that she didn't do anything strenuous. Nerys was there to make sure of it, fussing over Ziyal like a mother hen and shooting very sharp glares at Garak who, for the first time since I'd met him, looked almost... _shy_.  
  
I switched to what I thought was a very passable version of the twist. Hooting came from some of the tables. "That's atrocious!," I heard Dax call out. "You're not allowed anywhere near our wedding if you're going to dance like that!"  
  
Worf gave his fiance a look that seemed to say "There'll be dancing at our wedding?"  
  
Nerys let out a laugh at Dax's remark. Katherine recovered from laughing enough to stand up and walk up to me. "No no, I don't know where you learned to dance, Doctor, but I can't let you do that anymore." She took my hands, shifted where my arms were, and began giving me instructions on where to put my feet. It was courtly dancing from the Inner Sphere, the kind you find in noble ballrooms, and not really something for the atmosphere in Quark's.  
  
We nevertheless had quite the audience.  
  
  
  
  
Katherine was well and tuckered out when our day came to an end. I showed her the hammock on the TARDIS to rest until I got her home and headed back out onto the Promenade to say goodbye.  
  
Admiral Ross was standing beside Sisko. He extended me a PADD. "Doctor, have you ever heard of Starfleet Standing Order 30?", Ross asked.  
  
I nodded. "Yes, I have. It's why I try to give you lot some distance these days."  
  
"Well, you don't have to worry about it now," Sisko remarked.  
  
"Starfleet Command has reviewed our reports on the retaking of _Deep Space Nine_ ," Ross announced. "In light of your help in securing the station and its residents, Starfleet has suspended SR30 pending a full review. A review that will have to wait until the war is over."  
  
"I can't imagine DTI is going to be happy."  
  
"Oh, they're livid," Ross confirmed. "And they still have standing orders for your arrest. But Starfleet won't act against you on our own initiative."  
  
"I see." I handed the PADD back to them. "Thank you, gentlemen."  
  
"Feel free to give the Federation any help you can," Ross said. "We need it."  
  
I nodded. The war wasn't over, after all, and the Dominion would be back with a vengeance soon enough. "I will do what I can," I promised.  
  
It was, in retrospect, a promise that was very questionable to give.  
  
"What about Dukat?", I asked.  
  
"He'll be held for trial," Sisko said. "He has crimes to answer for, in the Federation and on Bajor."  
  
"So long as he does," I answered. I wondered just how this would change things. Dukat wouldn't be there to give Damar one of the speechs that helped prompt him to rebel against the Dominion. Maybe it wouldn't be necessary... but what if it was?  
  
Something I'd have to deal with eventually, I imagined.  
  
When they left, Nerys stepped up into the TARDIS as I entered it. "So, a birthday party?", she asked.  
  
"Not the one I imagined I'd give her," I admitted.  
  
"We talked about how we met you." Nerys crossed her arms. There was a look of some mischief and faked irritation on her face. "So, I wasn't good enough for birthday parties?"  
  
I winced. "Nerys...." I drew in a breath. "I...."  
  
"Don't worry about it," she said, putting her hands on my arms. "I know."  
  
I could see that she did. Had I tried the same with her... it wouldn't have lasted. I would have changed her future to spare her the suffering of her childhood in the Occupation.  
  
"I've never... talked to you about this. Not really. Back in the Occupation I know I was bitter about you not letting us come with you. And I wasn't understanding over how you wanted to end the Occupation. You tried to tell me but I wasn't ready... But that's changed. Coming to _Deep Space Nine_ , it's made me appreciate what you said to me back then. And..." I saw tears in her eyes. "If I still wish you had taken me away from the Occupation, it's because there are things I did that.... it's.... you once told me there was a better way, and I threw it back in your face. I told you I'd never regret killing Cardassians. But I was wrong. I do regret the things I did during the Occupation."  
  
There were tears in her eyes at this point. I felt a couple of my own. "I understand," I told her. "I'm sorry."  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
We remained silent for several seconds. Nerys put a hand to my chin. "You've got stubble," she pointed out. "Trying to grow a beard?"  
  
I reached down and pressed my hand to the other side of my face. I had been forgetting to shave lately. "Not really."  
  
"I talked to Rom. He told me about the conduit and your fight with the Jem'Hadar." She shook her head. "You need to take care of yourself too."  
  
I nodded. "I haven't been my best since...."  
  
"What happened to Janias and Camilla? Are they...?"  
  
"They were taken by the Borg," I explained. "I got them back out but... it hurt them deeply. They're not up to traveling with me anymore. I gave them a good home. They'll be happy."  
  
"I'm sorry. You must be so lonely now."  
  
"I suppose I am," I admitted. "You want to come along? Take a ride in my magic box?"  
  
Nerys laughed at that. "I'm not that little girl anymore," she said. "Besides, I think you've already found a good partner." She looked over to the hammock.  
  
My eyes followed her's. Katherine was laying on her side, sound asleep.  
  
"That would be complicated," I remarked.  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"She's... well, she's a princess. Second in line to the throne, that kind of thing."  
  
I didn't mention my other worry. That her ambition remained. That even if she was bold and selfless and kind, ambition could still warp all of that. All it took was her deciding she should rule her family's union.  
  
"If you say so. But she's smart, brave, and she loves traveling with you. Sounds to me like a perfect fit."  
  
"That she does," I admitted. "So, getting late. Got a busy day tomorrow, I imagine?"  
  
"Oh, busy. We have to get everything switched back to Federation systems. I think Chief O'Brien wants to throw Dukat out the airlock just over the state of some of the station's modifications. Five years of work and Dukat's engineers messed everything up."  
  
"Ah. Best of luck to him, then." I escorted Nerys to the TARDIS door. "Take care of yourself, Nerys."  
  
"You're the one who needs it more," she pointed out. "If you need to talk... we're always here."  
  
"I'll keep that in mind," I promised her. I watched her head toward the exit to the Promenade before closing the TARDIS. It was time to take Katherine home.  
  
  
  
  
I let Katherine have her nap, during which I made sure to shave and change clothes and pick up in the TARDIS. I materialized us in her receiving room in the palace on Tharkad. "How is the bruise?"  
  
"Doctor Bashir healed it," she answered me, walking over to a chair.  
  
"Good. Not the birthday present I imagined."  
  
At that Katherine laughed. "Dancing made up for it. Give me some time and you could actually pass in a social ball."  
  
"Not my thing," I answered with a smirk. "You came after me, I'm guessing?"  
  
"Yes. I knew you didn't have anyone to watch your back." Katherine put her hands together. "And then I heard Gul Dukat talking to his daughter and went to see what was going on. When that Cardassian pulled a gun I grabbed it."  
  
"You saved Ziyal's life," I told her. "You did a good thing."  
  
"Thank you." Her blue eyes seemed to sprinkle. "Doctor, can I ask something?"  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
"I've enjoyed the birthdays, but I'm all grown up now. You don't need to worry about it next year. We're going to be at war with the Clans anyway, it's not right that I get to go off on adventures while my brother and so many others are fighting."  
  
"An admirable sentiment," I said. "I'm guessing you have thoughts on what you need to do."  
  
"Yes. I need to keep our peoples' spirits up." Katherine put her hands together and leaned forward. "With the way the war has been going, they need it."  
  
"Yes, they do."  
  
And here was where I decided to test her. I had to know. I had to know where that ambition was directed.  
  
"What do you want, Katherine?", I asked. And no, I didn't try to impersonate Mister Morden with that. "You're second in line to your parents' throne. If anything happens to your parents or Victor..."  
  
"I'd be Archon-Princess," she finished. "Is... is something going to happen?"  
  
There was an eager tone in her voice. I kept myself from breathing hard. I was afraid of what it could mean if she... if it had all been for naught. If despite all of my changes...  
  
"Not necessarily. I'm just asking," I replied.  
  
She nodded and took a breath. "Doctor... I... I can't talk about this, not right now. I have education to work through and public appearances and the war, and Victor's out there risking his life. I don't want to talk about this until I know he'll be fine. I don't want to even think about it."  
  
I nodded quietly. "I understand."  
  
"Come back when the war's over," she said. "Then I'll give you a reply. If I'm still alive."  
  
"Don't worry about that," I assured her.  
  
  
  
  
As it turns out... I couldn't wait.  
  
Okay, I had enough control to not _immediately_ jump to just after Tukkayid, when the Truce of Tukkayid came into force. In fact, after getting a good rest myself, my next destination wasn't even to see her.  
  
I stepped out of the TARDIS and into the private office of Hanse Davion. " _...fond_ adieu _, Prince Davion. Do devote all your resources to fighting the Clans. You do_ not _want to go to war with me._ "  
  
I didn't recognize the voice, but I recognized the insignia on the packaging. The green triangle and hand-holding sword of House Liao's Capellan Confederation. Ah, Sun-Tzu Liao. Whatever his successes, I couldn't help but think of him as an opportunistic weasel who exploited the conflict with the Clans for his family's aggrandizement, even when it threatened the ability of the Inner Sphere to fight the greater threat.  
  
Heh, maybe I should pay him a visit some day. I'd have to bring some medicine for his crazy sister as a peace offering. If you don't know why, said sister is named Kali and leads a cult of Thuggees. Yes, she needs it. Although it's anyone's guess if it would _work_.  
  
I brought out a hypospray of medication for an ailing heart and walked up to the figure slumped in the chair. A scan of the sonic confirmed for me that Prince Hanse was in the middle of a heart attack, one that would be fatal shortly.  
  
And for the second time in this story, I willingly changed the path of history to save a life. And, sure, Hanse Davion's not quite so sweet or nice as Toya Ziyal... but he was still a man who was more good than bad, and someone the Inner Sphere needed in office for the time being.  
  
Hanse's eyes fluttered open as I switched off Sun-Tzu's smug little message. He looked from the screen to me as I sat on his desk. "What... what just..."  
  
"You had a heart attack, Your Highness," I explained. "I had to inject you with a cardial stabilizer. Don't move too much, it's not magic, it's just really good biochemistry, and your heart needs time to recover. I'd suggest staying in bed for a week or so, but I'm not an actual medical doctor and you may want to consult your physician."  
  
He recovered enough to speak. "You," he said simply.  
  
"Well, it's not as fancy a name as 'the Doctor', but it'll do," I jibed in reply.  
  
The hints of a smile curled on his mouth. "Ah, Doctor. You've caught me in a bad moment."  
  
"I don't think he actually intended for his message to have that effect," I noted. "Not that he'd have been against it."  
  
"If not for the Clans I would gladly be rid of him," Hanse remarked coldly, picking up the container. "The news will be out in due time, but until then, can I count on..."  
  
"...my silence? Yes." I stood up. "I'll wait until you get your physician present, but I must be going. I don't think Mister Curaitis will be very pleased with me gaining access to your office without being detected."  
  
"He wouldn't. But we've all come to realize that if you were a danger to me or my family, you would have struck long ago."  
  
"I imagined so. Now, please, call for aid and lay your head back. Don't sleep, but don't speak either. Save your strength."  
  
I waited quietly until the Prince's physician arrived with a nurse. As they entered I shifted the TARDIS out.  
  
I must now admit that this... was something of a selfish move on my part. Keeping Hanse alive was all well and good for the stability of the Inner Sphere. But that also meant Katherine would feel more free to join me, if that was her choice, and if I felt it the right thing to do.  
  
I'm still not sure whether to be grateful or not that the birthday magic had run out, as I would later find that Hanse died two and a half weeks later from another heart attack. His old heart simply couldn't sustain the pressures of state.  
  
There are those - one Donar Vadderung among them - who argue that history has an inertia. Changing history isn't as easy as you think as history will naturally try to drift back "on course", if it doesn't undo the change right then and there. It would seem that sometimes, even a Time Lord must bow to that inevitable power.  
  
But I digress. It's time to bring this tale to it's natural close.  
  
  
  
  
I arrived for Katherine's twentieth birthday, the first after the Truce of Tukkayid and the death of her father. I arrived just as she finished treating the _mycosia_ I had given her fifteen years before from her perspective. "It's still alive I see," I remarked. "Gotten plenty of love, hasn't it?"  
  
"Yes Doctor." Katherine looked back from the window sill she kept it on. While I was in my usual suit, she was in a sleeved blue blouse and yellow skirt. "It's survived so many frosts that I can't count them. I admit that as a girl I used to take it out into hard freeze just so I could break the ice off and find the pedals and leaves still alive underneath."  
  
"That's not entirely loving, but you were giving it a bit of a watering when you did that," I remarked. "The Truce is holding?"  
  
"It is. I'm told that occasionally Clan units raid above the truce line, but they never hold territory."  
  
"It wouldn't do them any good when the Truce expires, and they know it. Honestly, their entire invasion was bloody silly, emphasis on the bloody. Little buggers don't have the first clue on how to rule anyone but their lower castes."  
  
"Phelan may teach them otherwise," Katherine noted with a hint of bitterness.  
  
"Ah, yes, the prodigal son who is alive but did not return," I stated. "He'll do good with them. He's on the good side of the line, you might say, working to keep the Clans from deciding the Truce needs to be eliminated."  
  
"So Uncle Morgan says." Katherine let out a sigh. "Doctor, you're not here to talk about these things with me."  
  
"I'm not."  
  
"The war is over, but my father's dead. I... I don't know what to do. What I want. I have a duty but I..." She stopped speaking and rubbed at her eye. "You asked me what I wanted."  
  
"I did."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because, Katherine, I can see that among other things, you've inherited your father's ambition. Ambition and desire are a potent mixture. I'd like to see what they've created."  
  
Katherine smiled thinly and lowered her head. "I've had family and tutors tell me I should be the future ruler and not Victor. That he's too military."  
  
"So they say," I said simply. "But he can be taught."  
  
"And then there's his..." Katherine sighed. "The entire family knows about Omi Kurita, it seems."  
  
"So it does."  
  
"Ryan Steiner and others have been yelling that it's treason for Victor to be in love with Omi. There are many who will believe Victor is going to give them to the Kuritas to have Omi as a wife. Or they're mad at just the thought of him marrying her. The last time a Davion married a Kurita wasn't pretty. And it makes me wonder if Victor can rule with people like that around."  
  
"Yes." I let her continue, wondering where she was going with this. I admit to some suspense. This was the time of truth, the time when I would find out whether all of my efforts were for naught.  
  
Katherine seemed focused on her thoughts. "And I hear them talk like that and.... I remember when you took me to Republic City for my birthday. I remember all of those monuments about the Hundred Years War, and how all of these people who lived there were once enemies. And then I realized how petty and stupid all of that sniping is," Katherine finished. "Victor isn't perfect. He doesn't know how to handle people because he's so wound up about sycophants. He's easily frustrated and he's focusing on the Clans so much he doesn't always see the other problems around him."  
  
I swallowed. Was it all for nothing? Would even a nicer, kinder, even brave Katherine still seek to usurp her brother? Not out of megalomania, but out of kindness and love?  
  
But I said nothing. I had to let her get her thoughts out.  
  
"And they actually want me, Doctor, to be the heiress. They want me to take over. Maybe they think I'll be a better ruler, or easier to control, or that Victor and I will fight so much they can get more power by playing us against each other. And what's worse is that I don't know how well Victor will handle it when Mother abdicates in his favor. Sometimes I wonder if he _can_ be the ruler."  
  
I tried not to swallow.  
  
Katherine raised her head and her eyes met mine. I looked into them, almost wishing I could soulgaze like Harry just to see what was going on inside of her.  
  
And then she finished speaking.  
  
"But he's a good man. He'll be a good ruler. I have faith in him, I'm not going to undermine him," Katherine insisted. "That's not what I want."  
  
I took a breath as I let her words loop in my head. Had I... had it....  
  
Had it actually worked?  
  
Had I been successful? Had I forestalled Katherine becoming the dictator and matricide that would have been her fate without my working my way into her life?  
  
I realized the answer was yes. Yes, I had. But if I had, then what was her ambition?  
  
"I'll tell you what I want, Doctor," Katherine said. "What I want... as much as I love my family, I wish I wasn't part of it. I don't want to be Princess of the Federated Commonwealth, I don't want to be Victor's Heir-Presumptive until he has an heir of his own."  
  
"What I want, Doctor, what I've wanted for years, is to travel with _you_ ," Katherine admitted, smiling like she was lifting a burden off of her shoulders. "As much as it would horrify my family and the Court, I want to leave and join you in the TARDIS. I want to see the birth of stars and the forming of planets. I want to see the City-World of Coruscant, the Ancients' Atlantis, and all the other wonderful things you've said are out there. I want to meet the wizard Harry Dresden and Commander Shepard and all the other heroes you've told me about. I would give everything I have to just travel with you for the rest of my life."  
  
I sat there, rendered utterly speechless.  
  
"I can't, of course," Katherine admitted. "I can't just turn my back on my mother and Victor, not with Father having passed. They need me. I have duties, responsibilities. But I just wish I could get away from them."  
  
By this time, I couldn't help it. I had to laugh lowly and smile. "Oh Katherine, my dear Katherine."  
  
"Doctor?" She looked at me.  
  
"Katherine, I... I'm humbled by this," I admitted. "I never realized... I thought when you grew up then you'd get wrapped up in this life and wouldn't be interested in running around the Multiverse."  
  
"I've dreamed of it since I was a little girl," she told me.  
  
"I see." I put my hands together in front of me. How ironic that I had acted to divert her ambition, to nudge her into being someone who could resist it... and now it was actually working against me. "Katherine, your sense of duty is.... is what I'd expect. I'd just like to point something out." I leaned forward, as if to whisper a secret to her. "I'm a _time traveler_ my dear."  
  
I saw the smile form on her face. It's something she had likely overlooked when talking about her duties versus her desires. But she clearly understood what I was saying.  
  
"When's your next public appointment? A week from now?"  
  
"Yes. And I have to be back for the Christmas social season."  
  
"Very well. I'll have you back in a day or so."  
  
"How long would we be gone?", Katherine asked.  
  
I had only one reply to her on that.  
  
"How about we find out?"  
  
She jumped out of her chair at that point and dashed for her bedroom. I went to the TARDIS and opened it, waiting at the door until she returned, carrying several bags with her. She put them at the opening to the TARDIS and picked up the _mycosia_ flower in its pot. I smiled as she walked into the TARDIS and handed to me. "I want to be able to water it. In case we don't get back in time."  
  
"Of course," I answered. "Want me to help you with those?"  
  
"No," she insisted. "I'm not Princess of the Federated Commonwealth in here. I'm just Katherine. And I carry my own things." She reached down and, with some effort, picked them up and carried them in.  
  
"Second left, door on the right. Excellent mattress," I said to her. I went to work on the TARDIS controls until she got back, a little winded but looking far more ready to burst out of her skin in excitement. "So, my dear Katherine.... what do you want to see first?"  
  
"All of it!", she insisted.  
  
"That's a tall order," I answered, unable to keep the grin off my face. "Best we get started, eh?" I flipped a few more switches and set our destination while Katherine took up a place opposite me on the controls. She already knew not to touch. I could see her breathing was picking up. She was probably a little terrified at the prospect of what she was doing, but I could see that more than anything she was ecstatic.  
  
So was I. Even considering taking her home sometimes.... I had a Companion again. Someone I could share this wide and wondrous multiverse with.  
  
I wasn't alone anymore.  
  
"Been practicing your running?", I asked her, playing up the moment.  
  
"I run every day," she insisted. And she certainly had the figure to prove it; lean muscles that barely broke the smoothness of her arms and the rest of her figure.  
  
"Good. Because we're going to be doing a lot of running." I set my hand on the lever for the TARDIS engine. "Ready to go, Katherine?"  
  
"I've been ready," she insisted.  
  
"And a good girl, I'll note," I answered, remarking on my old promise to her when we first met. "Welcome to the TARDIS, Katherine."  
  
I noted, with some pleasure, how her eyes burned with eagerness. It made the next bit a lot more fun.  
  
I pulled back the lever and let out a happy shout for the first time in months.  
  
"Tally ho!"  
  



End file.
